Some notes on Eric Holder, the next Attorney General for the US

Here is an email that I received today.

Mr. Holder:
- Officially opposed the Heller vs. D.C. gun decision, signing onto an amicus brief with former Attorney General Janet Reno;[1]
- Supported a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases;
- Supported a one handgun per month rule;
- Supported licensing and registering all gun owners;
- Opposes the “gun-show loophole,” claiming in an editorial shortly following 9/11 that terrorists would be/were procuring weapons illegally at these gun shows.

In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee as Deputy Attorney General under President Clinton and Janet Reno, Mr. Holder proclaimed that 13 kids on average die every day because guns are too easily accessible and proposed four measures to “reduce inappropriate youth access to firearms:”[2]
1. Raise the minimum age that a young person can possess a handgun from 18 to 21;
2. Ban the possession by youth of all assault weapons.
3. Require the sale of a child safety lock or safe storage device with every firearm.
4. Hold adults criminally responsible for not preventing a child from finding/using a gun and causing death or serious injury.

Obama has stated on his campaign Website that he will seek to reauthorize the assault weapons ban and eliminate the Tiahrt amendment. At the same time, Obama has stated that he believes the Second Amendment is an individual right. While the gun issue may not come to the forefront this year, the nomination or Eric Holder is not encouraging to gun owners and could have a negative impact on gun owners through the regulatory and administrative process at the Department of Justice. It is clear that Mr. Holder views gun control on law-abiding citizens as a solution to crime. . . .

[Holder quotes]

“The Second Amendment Does Not Protect Firearms Possession or Use That Is Unrelated To Participation In a Well-Regulated Militia.”

Eric Holder, Jr., et al., Brief for Former Department of Justice Officials as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioners, District of Columbia v. Heller, (2003).

“One measure that is an essential part of any [national security] plan is the need to tighten our nation’s gun laws, which allow the easy and legal sale of firearms to terrorists and criminals. . . . [F]ederal law does not require background checks on all firearms sales. In the interest of national security, this should be changed immediately.”

“To further strengthen the ability of law enforcement officials to track those suspected of terrorism or other criminal acts in this country, Congress should also pass legislation that would give the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms a record of every firearm sale.”

Eric Holder, Jr., “Keeping Guns Away from Terrorists,” The Washington Post, Oct. 25, 2001.

“A mandatory 72-hour waiting period for all happen-gun purchases will help stop heat-of-the-moment killings and a proposed increase in the minimum age for handgun possession from 18 to 21 will get hand guns out of the hands of the most crime-prone age group.”

Eric Holder, Jr., News Clip, “Firing New Rounds,” Online NewsHour, PBS, May 27, 1999.

“[Crime] [p]revention is about keeping guns out of criminals[’] hands and out of our children’s hands. And yes it is about closing the dangerous gun show loophole, it is about making sure that child safety locks are sold with every gun, it is about ensuring that violent juvenile offenders are not able to turn around and buy a gun on their 21st birthdays, and it is also about limiting children’s access to guns by raising the age for firearms possession. These are but a few of the critical, common sense measures that can help keep guns out of the hands of our children.”

Eric Holder, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, Lunch and Keynote Address, “Child Welfare in the District of Columbia,” Nov. 17, 1999.

“I don’t have any doubt that there would be a substantial number of people alive at the end of next year, who might not otherwise be alive, if we had that trigger lock legislation.”

Eric Holder, Jr., Deputy Attorney General DOJ Media Briefing re: Columbine, Apr. 22, 1999.

Senate Democrats and Obama Reversing Course on Seating Burris

Well, I guess getting another Democratic Senator in there right away than the moral outrage that the Democrats showed when his appointment was first announced. Today the NY Times has this:

After a private 45-minute meeting with the former Illinois state attorney general, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said that they were open to recognizing Mr. Burris’s appointment as long as he met several conditions. . . .

“If that comes to a positive conclusion, as we believe it will, the next step is for the Rules Committee to review what has come together here on a bipartisan basis and recommend to the United States Senate, both Democrats and Republicans, the next step,” Mr. Durbin said.

I know Roland Burris,” the president-elect said. “Obviously, I’ve — he’s from my home state. I think he’s a fine public servant. If he gets seated, then I’m going to work with Roland Burris, just like I work with all the other senators, to make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of the country are served.” . . .

WSJ: "For Middle-Class Pakistanis, a Gun Is a Must-Have Accessory"

So what do you do when the government can't protect you? Here is what happens in Pakistan.

LAHORE, Pakistan -- After escaping kidnappers who chained him to a bed for 25 days, Mohammad Javed Afridi pressed Pakistani law enforcement for swift justice. The police offered him something else: temporary permits for four automatic assault rifles.

Since Mr. Afridi's ordeal ended in mid-October, police in his hometown of Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, haven't made an arrest in his case. They raided the kidnappers' hide-out, but the captors got away, a senior Peshawar police official says.

So the cops allowed Mr. Afridi to arm himself against future abductions. The 35-year-old journalist now carries an AK-47 to work and back home to his wife and five children. Relatives rotate duty as his bodyguards. If his car is again stopped by armed men on a dark road, Mr. Afridi vows to shoot first.

"I'm not going through that again," he said in an interview in this city in northeastern Pakistan.

Guns have long been part of Pakistan's traditional culture, especially in the rugged northwestern part of the country. Handed down through generations, rifles have been used for hunting and for firing celebratory fusillades. Now, however, modern assault rifles and handguns have come into vogue among middle-class Pakistanis, and gun registration has jumped.

This proliferation reflects many urbanites' dwindling faith that the country's new civilian government can protect them. Over the past year, Pakistan has endured the assassination of popular political leader Benazir Bhutto, a spreading Islamist insurgency and the bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel. November's deadly terror attacks in Mumbai, allegedly carried out by 10 Pakistani militants trained here, further frayed nerves.

But more than heightened terrorist threats, many Pakistanis fear the surge in violent kidnappings, extortions and robberies that target those who look like they might have money. The 11,758 murders recorded in the first 11 months of 2008 were the highest in Pakistan in at least a decade, say Islamabad police, who compile nationwide crime statistics.

"People buy weapons because they're insecure," said a senior Interior Ministry official. "No need denying it." . . . .

Here is an important quote:

Others say the government isn't doing enough to get arms in the hands of those who need them. "Criminals don't have licenses, so why do we need to get a license?" asked Tariq Rana, who on a recent day was buying an illegal 12-gauge shotgun after he was robbed of his cellphone, watch and cash the night before. "I couldn't get an arms license because I don't know any politicians."

Thanks to Karl Christensen for the link.

Real gas prices now lower than when Bush took office

The Washington Times has the story here:

A once-popular bumper sticker says simply, "When Bush took office, gas was $1.46." It was meant to be a slam, but as the end of his eight years approaches, President Bush is seeing gas prices that, adjusted for inflation, are lower than when he was inaugurated.

Last week's $1.59 - the average for a gallon of regular on Dec. 29, according to the Energy Information Administration - works out to $1.33 in 2001 dollars, or 9 percent less than it was the day Mr. Bush took office. The tumble in prices, from a high of more than $4.05 in early July, has meant incredible savings. . . .

"Seventy-year-old woman holds home intruder at gunpoint"

Sorry for such a long post here, but this is a very well done story from WNDU TV in South Bend, Indiana.

Posted: 10:54 PM Jan 4, 2009
Last Updated: 12:37 AM Jan 6, 2009
Reporter: Sarah Platt, Alana Greenfogel
Email Address: Sarah.Platt@wndu.com, Alana.Greenfogel@wndu.com
97 comments
Uncut: Sandra's call to 911
Seventy-year-old woman holds home intruder at gunpoint, talks about ordeal
Elderly South Bend woman holds home invader at gunpoint

It's not uncommon to hear stories of people defending their homes and themselves from intruders-- but when it's a 70-year-old woman, that story is a bit more uncommon.

It's exactly what happened in St. Joseph County on Sunday night, after an intruder broke into an elderly woman's home on Portage Road.

The woman held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. That man is 28-year-old Cyrus Brown. Brown is being held in jail on a number of charges, including burglary and intimidation.

The woman who defended herself is Sandra. She asked us not to use her last name. Newscenter 16 spoke to her by phone Monday night, while she recovered in her hospital room. She’s being treated for heart problems, problems she didn't have until Sunday night's scare.

As you'll hear, this 70-year-old is a gutsy lady who wasn't about to let anybody mess with her.

It was all started about nine o'clock Sunday night. Sandra says she was in the midst of splitting wood for her fire and making vegetable soup, when she heard a ruckus outside.

“All of a sudden, I’m hearing fast footsteps around my yard, around my deck,” says Sandra.

That's when she says she grabbed her gun and called 911. Moments later-- the intruder-- 28-year-old Cyrus Brown, broke through her back patio door, pushing his way through the glass.

“Immediately, I felt there was danger because he was so desperate,” explains the 70-year-old. “He's in the kitchen by the stove, I told him to get down on the floor. I said if you come any closer to me, I will shoot you to kill. I told him to sit down, don't move, and I want to see your hands at all times,” adds Sandra.

Newscenter 16 obtained the 911 call that Sandra made. In the background, you can hear her demanding the suspect get down.

911 call:
Dispatch: “Ma’am, where is he at in the house?”
Sandra: “Get, get, get! You have more to fear from me!”

911 call:
Dispatch: “Ma'am, are you holding him at gunpoint?”
Sandra: “Yes, I am. And if he moves towards me, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill. I don't want to have to kill him.”

In that moment, Sandra says she was glad she had a gun and knew how to use it-- just in case.

“I thought that this could turn out badly because I heard of other people being murdered in their house, but I decided, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I owe that to my children,” she explains. “Guns aren't all bad, only in the hands of the criminal and guns can be a good defense.”

In the end, you can hear the relief in Sandra's voice, as the police arrive at her back door.

911 call:
Sandra: “Cops!”
Police: “Get down, get down!”
Dispatch: “Ma'am, can you put the gun down for me please?”
Sandra: “It's down.”
Dispatch: “Great, great, ok!”

If you'd like to listen to Sandra's 911 call in its entirety, we have a link at the top of this story.

Sandra is a mother of three and has several grandchildren.

She's set to have a procedure on her heart this week. As you can imagine, this whole situation has caused the 70-year-old a lot of stress.

She says she hopes others can learn from her story and think about protecting themselves. She’s hoping to have a neighborhood meeting in her area to discuss safety in homes.

***********************************************************************************
ORIGINAL STORY: NEIGHBORHOOD REACTION

A man is in custody Sunday night after police say he tried to break into a home on St. Joseph County's northwest side.

It happened in the 51000-block of Portage near Brick Road.

Police say 28-year-old Cyrus Brown drove off the road and hit a utility pole on Portage. He then attempted to break into a nearby home.

When police arrived, they found an elderly female named Sandra holding the driver at gunpoint, awaiting their arrival. Sandra tells us she was scared to death and yelled at Brown to stay down. She says he begged her not to shoot.

"I would give her thumbs up and tell her to keep up the great work and I'm really proud of her," Lanore Evins, Sandra's neighbor, says. "He probably didn't want anyone to know that happened to him. That's probably a little embarrassing for him."

"He was a little combative at first," explains Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County Sheriff Department. "The officers had to wrestle with him to get him to comply with their orders. He didn't mess with the homeowner though."

Sandra is in the hospital with heart problems she says stemmed from the incident. She says her doctors say the situation caused too much pressure for her. But Sandra hopes her story inspires others to stand up for themselves.

"Doesn't surprise me about any of us around here. We all fight what's ours," says Phyllis Barkley, Sandra's good friend. "Don't mess with the gray haired people! We still got a lot of fight in us."

My biggest disappointment was that it took so long for the dispatcher to tell the officers where the break-in occurred. Then it took what seemed like a life time for the police to arrive. The audio tape gives you an idea how incredibly long it can take the police to arrive.

Thanks to David Shipman for the link.

The Stone Age Diet

A friend of mine and an economist who I have admired since I was a graduate student has been getting a lot of attention for his work on diet. His name is Art DeVany. It is pretty amazing that an economist would have something to say about diet, but here is a clip of an extremely popular show in Britain discussing Art's arguments.

A $175 Global Warming tax per Dairy Cow?

Jeff Poor has the story here:

Indirectly it could be considered a cheeseburger tax, but one of the suggestions offered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act is to levy a tax on livestock.

The ANPR, released early this year, would give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas for not only greenhouse gas from manmade sources like transportation and industry, but also “stationary” sources which would include livestock.

The New York Farm Bureau assigned a price tag to the cost of greenhouse gas regulation by the EPA in a release last month.

“The tax for dairy cows could be $175 per cow, and $87.50 per head of beef cattle. The tax on hogs would upwards of $20 per hog,” the release said. “Any operation with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs would have to obtain permits.”

Kate Galbraith, correspondent for The New York Times, noted on the Times’ “Green Inc.” blog that such a “proposal is far from being enacted” and that the “hysteria may be premature.”

But Rick Krause, senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau, warned it’s certainly feasible – especially based on the rhetoric of President-elect Barack Obama and the use of the EPA to combat global warming. Such action by an Obama administration would take an act of Congress for livestock to be exempt. . . .

Andrew Breitbart's Big New Project: Big Hollywood

Fox News has the story here:

A once-timid group of social outcasts is emerging from the shadows in Hollywood. If the past year is any indication, Tinseltown may have to get accustomed to the loud presence of a growing minority.

After years of silence, conservatives are coming out of the closet.

Andrew Breitbart, the conservative founder of Breitbart.com and author of "Hollywood Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon," is launching a Web site he hopes will help challenge the status quo in what he believes has been a one-party, left-tilting town. Set to debut on Jan. 6, "Big Hollywood" will be a place where center, right and libertarian-leaning celebrities and industry-insiders can weigh in on Hollywood politics, offer film, television and movie reviews, and have an open forum for political discussion.

"Our goal," says Breitbart, who lives in Los Angeles, "is to create an atmosphere of tolerance — something that does not exist in this town."

Breitbart has invited a number of conservative politicians, commentators and journalists to write regularly about the cult of celebrity, liberalism in popular culture, and politics. Among the names who will be contributing, he says, are Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va), political commentator Tucker Carlson, and former Tennessee Senator and Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson. . . . .

Its been rumored that Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr. is a closet Republican.
Actor Dennis Hopper is a conservative.
Actor Kelsey Grammer is a conservative.
Actor Gary Sinise is an out-of-the-closet conservative.
Actor Stephen Baldwin is conservative.
Actress Patricia Heaton is a conservative.

How to teach economics

I think that most professors just find it much easier to teach technical material. It is pretty mindless and mechanical. The Chronicle has the story here:

The undergraduate major in economics is generally healthy, but it would be stronger if faculty members had better skills in presenting the discipline to the vast majority of their students who do not want to become academic economists. That is the verdict of a draft report to be discussed here Saturday during the annual meeting of the American Economic Association.

The report was drafted by David C. Colander, a professor of economics at Middlebury College, and KimMarie McGoldrick, a professor of economics at the University of Richmond. It is one of a series of reports supported by the Teagle Foundation in an effort to promote “fresh thinking” about various undergraduate majors.

The good news, according to Mr. Colander and Ms. McGoldrick, is that most undergraduate economics departments continue to offer a broad education that speaks to students who might pursue business, public policy, or academic careers. A new national survey has found that a large majority of economics majors are satisfied with their programs.

But the authors fear that as doctoral education in economics becomes more technical and abstract — a trend Mr. Colander has criticized elsewhere — new faculty members are badly prepared to teach economics to undergraduate students with diverse interests. . . .

Personally, I am not as optimistic as Colander and McGoldrick are about the current state of the field. I have had two sons studying economics in college and their intermediate economics classes are mindless mechanical minimization and maximization problems.

So will the mainstream media mention this?: Congressional Dems apparently won't allow Republicans to offer alternative legislation

The story is here:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.

Pelosi’s rule changes -- which may be voted on today -- will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”

In reaction, the House Republican leadership is sending a letter today to Pelosi to object to changes to House Rules this week that would bar Republicans from offering alternative bills, amendments to Democrat bills or even the guarantee of open debate accessible by motions to recommit for any piece of legislation during the entire 111th Congress. . . .

So far searching Google News using ("fairness rules" Republicans offering alternative bills) produced just the above one story.

Senator Harry Reid's original statement on the war in Iraq being lost and his interview today on Meet the Press

Crashing Music Sales

Theft of intellectual property has gotten completely out of control in the music business. This story in the WSJ has an amazing chart showing that album sales have gone down from around 800 million in 2000 to somewhat over 400 million in 2008. I don't know whether there is some bias here breaking these down in terms of albums and not individual songs. The drop since 2000 has been almost continuous. It is hard to believe that illegal downloading isn't responsible for at least a good share of this drop.

Reviews at Facebook of Freedomnomics

Many are extremely nice, a few aren't, but I still appreciate people reading the book. The reviews are here.

An interesting older article on the Castle Law's enforcement in Texas

The Dallas Morning News piece can be found here:

'Castle law' arms Texas homeowners with right to shoot
Does new law make them quicker to pull the trigger?
08:18 AM CST on Sunday, January 20, 2008

By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
myoung@dallasnews.com
Certainly the castle law has become a high-profile addition to the Texas statutes since it took effect Sept. 1, but police and the district attorneys association argue that it brought little substantial change.

While it appeared to apply to each of these cases, so did a batch of other laws, along with the tradition of Texas juries giving people every benefit of the doubt when protecting themselves, their families and their property.

None of these property owners was charged. Police referred a few cases to the Dallas County grand jury, which declined to indict. In others, police determined that the shootings were justified. . . .

Dallas police homicide investigators said they've yet to encounter a self-defense situation since the castle law took effect that would have been barred under previous laws.

"There may come a time when that's not the case," said Lt. Craig Miller. "But I would have to look at each of those under its own merits."

Shannon Edmonds, director of governmental relations for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said he didn't know of a single Texas case in which the castle law would have made a difference.

"The reality is Texas grand juries routinely no-billed deadly force cases under the old law, which was very lenient," he said. "Many of the cases that you read about center on defense of property laws, which were always very, very lenient in the use of deadly force.

"That's just how Texas is." . . .

91 year old man defends wife from criminal who has a gun pressed against her head

The Orlando Sentinel has this story from Christmas day:

Ocoee man, 91, shoots at, repels home invaders who threatened his wife
Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer
December 25, 2008
Terror erupted in the Johnsons' heavily barred house on Lake Stanley Road shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday as the couple watched TV news. She was sitting in her wheelchair. He was sitting nearby on the sofa.

That's when a stranger stepped through the back door.

"What are you doing? What are you doing?" Berlie Mae Johnson, 90, remembered asking as the man stepped on her shiny-clean tile floor. "By then, he had the gun to my head. I don't know what all I said."

The man ordered the couple: "Be quiet. Don't say a word. Don't move."

Overcome by shock and fear, Berlie Mae Johnson said she couldn't move as a second man wearing a stocking over his face started to come through a sliding-glass door from the backyard.

"It's terrible. You don't know what [they're] going to do. You expect at any moment . . ." she said, her voice breaking. "I can't hold up. My nerves are shot. He'd probably have killed me."

But the love of her life was ready.

Her husband, who goes by Johnny, had his stainless-steel Police Special revolver tucked under a cushion on the sofa. He has been protective, she said, ever since they met at a Church of God service in Cocoa during the Great Depression.

"You don't think, man. You do what you have to do," Johnson said of how he grabbed his revolver as the second intruder entered. "He saw the gun and, boy, he was gone."

Shifting his aim, Johnson fired at the man still holding a gun to his wife's head.

"I shot as plain in his middle as I could have," said Johnson, describing how the man jumped and ran out the door. "I think I missed."

Orange County deputy sheriffs began arriving within three minutes of Johnson's 911 call. The response was delayed slightly because the home invaders tore out the Johnsons' telephone, so Johnson had to walk next door to call for help.

A K-9 tracked the home invaders' scent until it disappeared through a neighborhood on the south shore of Lake Stanley. Local hospital emergency rooms were notified to be on the lookout for a man suffering from an unexplained bullet wound.

Johnson bought his revolver for protection decades ago. A former citrus grove manager and plumber, Johnson said, "I'm still active. I still garden. We want to get a message out to other people. Be prepared. Keep your doors locked. And be alert."

His wife added, "And have a gun ready." . . .

Texas: "Police investigating deadly shooting that could fall under 'Castle Law'"

The story is here:

07:31 PM CST on Sunday, December 28, 2008
By JESSICA VESS / KVUE News
Police investigate a deadly shooting that could fall under the State’s so-called “Castle Law”.

Police are not saying much right now because they are still investigating the invasion, but we do know that the suspected burglar was shot and killed. It happened at a home about an hour northeast of Austin in Cameron.

Milam County Sheriff's deputies got a call around two this morning about the shooting of a home intruder.

Deputies found suspected burglar, 34-year-old Eddie Sexton III, dead.

No charges are filed yet, but the case could be the latest in a string of Castle Law defenses.

The law which was passed last September by Texas lawmakers gives homeowners the right to shoot an intruder - but there are boundaries.

It's still unclear whether or not the homeowner is the one who shot and killed Sexton this morning.

Deputies say the investigation will go to a grand jury. That group will decide if charges should be filed.

That is the way all Castle Doctrine defenses are handled. . . .

See also a related story in Colorado that has gotten a lot of national and international attention here:

Mistaken for thief, man gunned down
Comments 247 | Recommend 24
December 29, 2008 - 4:01 PM
SUE McMILLIN and BILL VOGRIN
THE GAZETTE

COLORADO SPRINGS — . . . .

Colorado Springs police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock said residents of the Virginia Avenue house made a 911 call and reported that someone was trying to break into the house.

One of the residents confronted Kennedy at the back door and fired a handgun at least once, Whitlock said. He said the two people inside the home did not know Kennedy.

He declined to name the residents or to provide additional information.

"We're doing timeline work now to see what brought these people together," Whitlock said. He characterized the shooting as an "unfortunate situation" and said police will turn their investigation over to the District Attorney's Office to determine whether charges will be filed.

The El Paso County Coroner's Office said an autopsy is scheduled today. . . .

Here is an additional story:

New Details In Springs Shooting
Updated: Jan 1, 2009 09:54 AM
KRDO News Channel 13, Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS - New information have come to light about the shooting death of a 22-year-old Colorado Springs man who may have been mistaken for an intruder.

It now appears the victim, Sean Kennedy, had broken a window and was trying to get inside a back door when he was shot and killed by the homeowner Sunday night.

An Associated Press story that starts out being critical of those who shot the intruder has this information towards the end:

David Webster, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, said it's still unclear whether the "Make My Day" law will apply to this case.

"It gets murky if the door is broken but not open," he said. Prosecutors also must consider whether Kennedy was warned before being shot.

The occupants of the house called police to report that they believed a burglary was occurring. Police have not said how long after the call that shots were fired.

"The time frame will be key," Webster said. "It sounds like they were trying to do the right thing and get law enforcement there." . . .

Also note:

Kennedy's house has a wooden privacy fence in the backyard, while the home where he was shot has a chain-link fence. His friends said he was in no condition to notice the difference after an evening of drinking and watching the Denver Broncos game at a friend's house.

From the Denver Post: The man's father described the situation this way:

"He had had too much to drink, as boys that age will do, and he apparently went to the wrong house, rang the doorbell and went to the back door and was pounding pretty aggressively, I guess, to wake up his roommates," Grant Kennedy said. "I guess the people inside were fearful of him. It's just a tragedy." . . .

Budget cut in Wilkes-Barre, PA stops issuance of CCW permits

The article is here:

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County Sheriff Michael A. Savokinas on Friday said his office will not accept gun permit applications until Jan. 19 because of staff cuts that went into effect Wednesday.

On Jan. 19, gun permit applications will be accepted Monday and Wednesday from noon to 8 p.m. only, Savokinas said. On Tuesday, Savokinas said the staff cuts prevent him from providing “adequate courtroom security or the timely transportation of prisoners” to the courthouse.

Savokinas said anyone who has received notice that a gun permit is available for pick-up this can do so Monday, Jan. 5, through Friday, Jan. 9, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Gun permit hours had been 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to the county Web site.

The sheriff’s main office is at the courthouse annex at Jackson and North River streets in Wilkes-Barre. In 2008, the sheriff’s office received 2,331 gun permit applications, about 44 a day, Savokinas said.

Three full-time employees in the sheriff’s office were laid off Wednesday, because $65,900 was cut from the sheriff’s allocation for salaries. The 2009 budget also eliminates $120,000 in funding for 24 per-diem employees in the office. . . .

Filibuster Threatened over Franken

The Hill newspaper has this:

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) threatened Friday to filibuster any attempt to seat Democratic Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken next week.

The newly minted National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman said he had not whipped votes in the GOP caucus, but added that he could not imagine any members defecting and seating Franken without a certificate of election.

Franken will not have that certificate as long as the election is challenged in the courts — a likely scenario, with Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) legal team already attacking the credibility of the recount process.
“This is a very, very serious matter,” Cornyn said. “I can assure you that there will be no way that people on our side of the aisle will agree to seat any senator without a valid certificate.”

Some have suggested that Franken could be seated provisionally, which would allow for any court challenges to play out and potentially change the outcome.

But since Minnesota state law won’t provide Franken a certificate of election with an election contest pending, seating Franken could be a risky and difficult proposition.

Franken leads the race by 49 votes with all challenged ballots resolved, but Coleman’s campaign is attempting to include about 650 improperly rejected absentee ballots from areas friendly to the incumbent.

That would be on top of about 1,350 improperly rejected absentees already designated by recount officials.

Beyond that, Coleman is expected to take up a legal challenge to the result.

Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court judge, suggested Friday that the case could go to the Minnesota Supreme Court or beyond. . . .

Should Students be encouraged to take brainpower boosting drugs?

I have a lot of pieces on this issue here. It seems to me like a simple cost benefit analysis. There is no more a moral question than whether people should drink coffee to wake up or have surgery to repair joints. This article below is from the Times of London:

Students should be allowed to take “smart drugs”, such as Ritalin, to help boost their academic performance, a leading academic has suggested.

John Harris, professor of bioethics and director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, said the government and medical profession should “seriously consider” making cognition-enhancing drugs available to students without prescription, or allowing them to be prescribed for non-therapeutic purposes, such as studying.

Students have long used drugs to boost their study performance. Caffeine and ginseng are traditional favourites. But recently the use of more powerful, restricted drugs, particularly the anti-hyperactivity medicine Ritalin, has spread from campuses in the US.

Currently such drugs are available only on prescription. Although many students buy them on the internet, their use without a prescription is a criminal offence.

But Professor Harris, joint Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Medical Ethics, said that serious consideration should now be given to making some of them available on prescription for non-medical reasons, specifically for the purpose of enhancing cognitive performance.

There was now a sizeable body of evidence to show that stimulants such as Ritalin, Provigil and Adderall significantly improve concentration and performance and their side effects were proportional to their benefits, he said. . . . .

The Sun and Temperature, also wacky Obama advisor

Here is an excellent editorial from IBD:

Global thermometers stopped rising after 1998, and have plummeted in the last two years by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius. The 2007-2008 temperature drop was not predicted by global climate models. But it was predictable by a decline in sunspot activity since 2000.
When the sun is active, it's not uncommon to see sunspot numbers of 100 or more in a single month. Every 11 years, activity slows, and numbers briefly drop near zero. Normally sunspots return very quickly, as a new cycle begins. But this year, the start of a new cycle, the sun has been eerily quiet.
The first seven months averaged a sunspot count of only three and in August there were no sunspots at all — zero — something that has not occurred since 1913.
According to the publication Daily Tech, in the past 1,000 years, three previous such events — what are called the Dalton, Maunder and Sporer Minimums — have all led to rapid cooling. One was large enough to be called the Little Ice Age (1500-1750). . . .

In a speech at Harvard last November, Harvard physicist John Holden, President-elect Obama's choice to be his science adviser as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, presented a "top 10" list of warming solutions.
Topping the list was "limiting population," as if man was a plague upon the earth. This is a major tenet of green dogma that bemoans the fact that the pestilence called mankind comes with cars, factories and overconsumption of fossil fuels and other resources.
R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre of Canada's Carleton University, says: "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet." . . .

Limiting human population is something that has been advocated at least since Thomas Malthus. The reason I list the Obama advisor as "wacky" is that this notion has been proven wrong time and time again (many entire books have been written on this). With respect to the environment, man's share of global warming gases is so small and global warming gases are such a small share of total reason that temperatures are changing, it is hard to believe that anyone thinks that we need to change world population. More importantly, world population growth is already slowing fairly dramatically simply due to economics. It is also pretty disappointing that Obama's advisor is advocating such a wacky "solution."

MN Secretary of State's Office Had Multiple mistakes in their listing of ballot decisions

Beth Fraser, the Director of Governmental Affairs in the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, was able to respond yesterday to my requests for information over the last couple of weeks. While I wasn't able to get any new data from them so as to compare the original decision on ballots with those decisions by the Minnesota Canvassing Board, I was told something interesting. Apparently, the SOS office had multiple mistakes in the ballot summaries that they had released. I find this interesting given the attacks on me for relying on the MN Star Tribune ballot summaries that were claimed by the SOS office to have been mistaken in one case. Among those who I had called to double check the MN Star Tribune website was the SOS office, but they did not return my requests for information. The Ms. Fraser was unwilling to identify how many mistakes the SOS office had made nor to identify what ballots had been mistakenly described. I doubt that the SOS office will be called to task as I was even though I had already corrected the supposed mistake on that one ballot (as claimed at that time by the SOS) that I had used.

If a company did this, wouldn't it be called bankruptcy?

MSNBC has the story here:

If you expect you'll be getting a refund from California when you file your 2008 state income tax return, be prepared: you may instead receive a "registered warrant." Translation: an IOU.

California is rapidly running out of money. Blame it on the state budget deficit that continues to bleed billions of dollars from California's reserves. Facing inadequate credit to make up the difference, California's Controller John Chiang warns that by the end of February, the nation's most populous state may not be able to pay some of its debts, and instead be reduced to issuing those creditors IOUs.

"My office has projected that, in approximately 60 days, there will be insufficient cash available to meet all expenditures reflected in the 2008-09 Budget Act," stated a Tuesday letter from Controller Chiang to the directors of all state agencies. "To ensure that the State can meet its obligations to schools, debt service, and others entitled to payment under the State Constitution, federal law, or court order. California may begin, as early as February 1, 2009, issuing registered warrants...commonly referred to as IOUs...to individuals and entities in lieu of regular payments." . . .